Reading Time: 10 minutes Yesterday I posted the first of what I plan to become a series of chapter reviews of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. I know I’m late to this game—others have already dissected this work many times over—but I’ve never written out my own thoughts for those who would want to know them. It’s long overdue. […]
evangelical Christianity
Posted inCulture, History
Dear Preacher, It Isn’t Your Fault (But It Is Still Your Responsibility)
Reading Time: 10 minutes I’d like to say a few things to those entrusted with leading evangelical Christian communities through this racially charged climate. I once considered myself one of those people but, as you can tell from the name of my blog, I changed my mind. I would argue that leaving the fold does not disqualify me from […]
Posted inParenting & Family, Religion
Episode 30: Screen Doors and Porch Swings
Reading Time: 7 minutes When I first came out as an atheist online, it was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. I still remember how my heart pounded, how I kept the post in my drafts folder for days, trying to decide if I should publish or not. How I asked my then-husband repeatedly if he was […]
Posted inCulture, News, Politics, Religion
The Culture Wars Have Jumped the Shark
Reading Time: 9 minutes When I was in college and seminary, my professors were always sounding the alarm over the postmodern condition, warning us that the loss of a central guiding “worldview” in America would produce culture wars in which every group and cultural identity would spar with each other, fighting for greater control of the public sphere. Then […]
Posted inReligion
How ‘be not afraid’ endangers us all
Reading Time: 4 minutes I think I’ve finally put my finger on what’s beneath my frustration with my fellow Southerners during this global pandemic—I mean besides the mortal peril into which their continued science denialism is putting us all, both in the short term (see COVID-19) and in the long (see climate change). I was already exasperated with their […]
Posted inHealth, News, Philosophy, Religion, Science
The Coronavirus and a Better Gospel
Reading Time: 6 minutes As you may already know, last night President Trump phoned in an interview to Hannity and brazenly disagreed with the World Health Organization about the fatality rate of the latest global health threat, the COVID-19 virus. Viewing the appearance of the Coronavirus as more of a public relations issue than as a matter of public health, Trump takes […]
Posted inThe Secular
Episode 29: What Atheists Wish Christians Knew About Them
Reading Time: 11 minutes I kept my deconversion a secret for nearly four years, but after being “outed” against my will I decided to go ahead and own it. Soon after, I began thinking about starting a blog to unpack my thoughts about faith and skepticism out loud for the benefit of others, and that’s when I read on […]
Posted inHistory
Deconstructing the end of the world
Reading Time: 13 minutes Back in the 7th grade, I got invited to a weekend-long retreat put on by my church in homes scattered all over the city. It was still the mid-1980s, and the Cold War had not yet fizzled out, so we were still obsessed with whether or not the Russians were going to nuke us, a fact which preachers and […]
Posted inUncategorized
Episode 20: Five Times Jesus Sounded Like a Humanist
Reading Time: 14 minutes I’ve said before that I’m not much of a fan of Jesus. If the reports of what he taught his followers have any truth to them, he said a number of things to which I object (and I don’t mean just the parts about believing in invisible spirits). [ iTunes | spreaker | youtube | pdf ] […]
Posted inReligion
Episode 7: How Christianity Teaches You to Hate Yourself
Reading Time: 9 minutes One of the great joys of living in the Bible Belt is that you can hear Christian music played overhead almost anywhere you go. One day not to long ago I had to make stops at a coffee shop, a gym, a doughnut place (I know, the irony), a fried chicken place, a clinic office, and […]